


Call Me, Beep Me, If You Want to Reach Me

by LaCroixWitch



Series: Magnus Bane Listens to Music [3]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alec Lightwood Is So Done, Alec Lightwood-centric, Cell Phones, Crushes, Embarrassed Alec Lightwood, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Inspired by Music, M/M, Magnus Bane & Isabelle Lightwood Friendship, Magnus Bane Has a Crush, Magnus Bane Loves Alec Lightwood, Magnus Bane is a Little Shit, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood Fluff, One Shot, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-23 11:46:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19700713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaCroixWitch/pseuds/LaCroixWitch
Summary: Alexander Gideon Lightwood needs to learn how to put his phone on silent.





	Call Me, Beep Me, If You Want to Reach Me

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Shadowhunters or anything related to The Mortal Instruments. I don't even own a musical instrument. 
> 
> This is super cheesy, but I won't apologize. 
> 
> See end of chapter for song credits.

The first time was while Alec was doing some paperwork late at night. The Valentine cases had been taking priority, popping up faster than they could count, but that didn’t mean The Clave would let the paperwork and filing slide. Izzy wasn’t great at reports, Jace was dealing with his drama, and Alec wasn’t even sure if the redhead could read. She certainly wasn’t good at following orders, so her comprehension skills were questionable. 

That left only Alec, squinting and dry-eyed, hunched over piles of paper and staring at the computer screen. He was halfway through a report about a recon mission when it happened. 

Compared to the quiet of the Institute, the sound seemed to call out, reverberating through the halls. The table buzzed loudly. 

_“Hey! I just met you, and this is crazy, but here’s my number, so call me maybe!”_

Alec scrambled to pick up his phone and make the noise stop as quickly as possible. He had no idea why his phone was making such a horrible sound. The number wasn’t one he recognized but he picked up the call anyway just to end the ringing.

“Hello, this is Alec Lightwood, who is calling?”

“Alexander! Isabelle gave me your number yesterday and I realized I never gave you mine. How rude of me, I know. Anyways, now that you have it, I just wanted to ask you-”

“Magnus, is this related to the case? Because if it’s not then I need to get back to work.”

“Are you sure you couldn’t spare an hour, say, to take a break… have a drink or two?”

“I’m hanging up now. And whatever you did to my phone, fix it."

* * *

The second time was while he was out on a mission with Jace and Izzy.

“So remember to stay on task with this: All we need to do is activate the rune to track demonic energy and then blend in with the mundanes. It’s simple recon, and we don’t want to stand out by glamouring ourselves- downworlders would be able to notice that immediately. Jace, Izzy, I know you both get overwhelmed if you activate your hearing runes in busy places like this, so I’ll activate mine. Do you each know what you’re doing?” Alec towered over his siblings, arms crossed and face stern. He almost regretted bringing them along on such a simple recon mission, especially when there was so much else going on with this case. 

“I’m going to split to the right and go through the vendor stalls. I’ll make some small talk to see if anyone has noticed anything strange.” Izzy lifted her chin high- she was all business.

“Jace?” Alec glanced at his parabatai. 

“While Izzy shops, I’m going to make my way in and out of the bars. Loose lips sink ships after all.” 

“I think we need to rethink this plan. It’s a street festival, and I know how you two tend to get off task. Remember what we are dealing with-” Alec was cut off by a buzz in his pocket and a song coming from his pants. His face immediately scrunched in frustration, but Izzy and Jace laughed.

_“_ _Don't pretend_

_I think you know_

_I'm damn precious_

_And, hell yeah_

_I'm the motherfuckin' princess_

_I can tell you like me too_

_And you know I'm right”_

In a panic, Alec shoved his hand into his pocket and hit the answer button. The first few tries, he went for the wrong pocket, completely flustered. He didn’t even have to check caller ID to know who it was.

“Magnus, this better be important. We are in the field.”

“Oh yes, of course, noble _shadowhunter._ ” His words were a bit slurred, he sounded almost drunk. Alec hoped he wasn’t- it was only noon. “I just wanted to let you know I found out that the demons involved are your favorites- shapeshifters. You’re welcome.” _click_

Alec was caught off guard that this call had been helpful, but it didn’t fix his embarrassment.

“So he went with _Girlfriend_ by Avril Lavigne? Huh,” Izzy pondered.

“What do you mean?” Jace cut in.

“Oh, it’s just when Magnus set my ringtone for his number, it was _Killer Queen._ I took that as a compliment. Alec on the other hand” She pointed a pointed, manicured finger at her brother. “Clearly he is not quite as pleased with the selection.”

“This is all your fault, Izzy.”

“I, for one, feel excluded.” Jace huffed, looking dejected.

* * *

  
The third time, he was trying to sleep. For a shadowhunter, sleep was a valuable commodity. There were few days out of the year when Alec got a full night’s rest, always needing to be up early for briefings or out late on missions. This night, though, he had gone to bed at 10:00 PM and had nothing to do until 10:00 AM the next morning, and he was going to enjoy every second of it.

At least, that was the plan, until he was startled awake by the tinny sound of music blaring from his phone. 

_“Nice to meet you, where you been?_

_I could show you incredible things”_

Alec reached behind him, trying to grab his phone from the nightstand without moving. He slapped his hand around, but came up with nothing. His thoughts blurred by sleep, all he could focus on was one goal: make the music stop.

_“Magic, madness, heaven sin_

_Saw you there and I thought_

_Oh my God, look at that face”_

He rolled over, squinting to see if the phone was lighting up, making it easier to find. It was on the far edge of the table, so he reached out as far as he could, his fingers grazing the edge of the glass screen. Instead of grabbing the phone, he actually knocked it to the floor.

_“You look like my next mistake_

_Love's a game, want to play?”_

This was getting ridiculous; he would do anything to make it stop. He stumbled out of bed, rushing to grab the phone. He meant to immediately reject the call, but after years of polite phone etiquette, he answered it immediately anyway.

“Some people need to sleep you know. And just so you know, the songs aren’t funny anymore.”

“Well, good evening to you too Alexander. The night is still young, so I wanted to ask you if you wanted to meet up…”

“No, I’m going back to sleep. Goodnight.”

As he hung up the call and climbed back in bed, a part of him wished he wasn’t too tired to take the warlock up on that offer. 

* * *

The fourth time, he was talking to his mother in his office. She wasn’t in a good mood to begin with, and this was only going to make it worse.

Alec, the Lightwood name is in jeopardy right now even if we don’t want to deal with it. It’s our duty to uphold the name and maintain our honor.” Maryse sat across from Alec at his desk, tapping her heel impatiently. 

“I understand, and I’m doing everything in my power as acting head of the Institute to keep things in order. It isn’t easy with Valentine on the loose and with Jace’s loyalty in question, but I’ve been able to get all of the paperwork back in order, secure a wealth of research that can be helpful in finding the rest of the mortal instruments-” He was cut off by his phone buzzing in his desk drawer.

_“I’m bringing sexy back._

_Them other boys don’t know how to act.”_

Maryse looked appalled, her disgust growing with each second it took for Alec to grab his phone. He was so flustered that he couldn’t remember where he stashed it, frantically opening drawers and digging through the piles of paper. Lately he had been trying the ‘out of sight, out of mind’ approach to the unwanted ringtone changes, but right now that was backfiring. 

  
“ _Dirty babe,_

_You see these shackles baby I’m your slave,_

_I’ll let you whip me if I misbehave-”_

“Alexander! That is distasteful! I can’t believe you would set your ringtone to be something so… vulgar!” She huffed, standing up to smooth her skirt before striding out the door. Just as she left, he found the phone, hiding in the very back of the second left drawer.

He buried his head in his hands as he answered the call. 

* * *

  
The fifth time, the one that broke the shadowhunter’s back, was during a meeting at the institute, a meeting that Alec himself was leading. It was a standard debrief, going over the missions that had been completed and the next set of assignments. 

“I’ll need volunteers to do night recon in each New York borough, looking out for demon activity as well as anything else suspicious. We have tracked a few hotspots of unusual activity.” He pointed to a computer-generated map to his side. “Now, we will have a few combat groups assigned here, ready to fight. Valentine is planning something big, and we need all hands on deck-”

_Oh no. Not now. Not here._ Alexander felt a buzz in his pocket.

_“_ _I'm telling you to loosen up my buttons, babe_

_But you keep fronting, uh_

_Sayin' what you gon' to do to me_

_But I ain't seen nothing-”_

The entire room fell silent. They were paying more attention now then they had been during the rest of the meeting. All eyes were on Alec. For once, he didn’t fumble as he grabbed his phone, hitting the decline button with ease.

He swallowed uncomfortably, wiping his now sweaty palms on his jeans. 

“As I was saying, we need all hands on deck…”

* * *

It was time for a confrontation. Alec couldn’t take this any longer. He hated being the butt of a joke, and even though he liked Magnus, this was taking it too far. Now he was taking matters into his own hands, storming into the loft unannounced.

“Is my life some kind of joke to you, Magnus?” The warlock had been lounging on his couch in a robe, sipping a cup of espresso and reading a book.

“Good morning, Alexander. Coffee?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Cut the crap Magnus, it’s 3:00 in the afternoon.” Magnus was taken aback by Alec’s stern demeanor, knowing he needed to tread lightly. He snapped his fingers, changing out of a robe and into more appropriate attire. Awaiting his next rebuke, he sat up and made eye contact with his shadowhunter.

“Do you know what I was doing when you called?”

“Actually, no, I don’t.” He cocked his head to the side. “Maybe I would know if you had answered.”

“I was delivering a debriefing. To the entire institute.” Alec’s face was wrinkled in anger, his arms crossed firmly against his chest. Although he looked fearsome, Magnus still wanted to laugh. He remembered what he had last set as Alec’s ringtone. He didn’t want to push matters further, so he just let Alec continue to rant.

“It’s not funny anymore. It wasn’t funny to begin with. You need to stop.” He was fuming. It was hard to be angry with Magnus, but this time Alec had been pushed a bit too far.

“Alexander…” Magnus stood, walking over to Alec. “I never intended for my little game to hurt you like this.” He placed a hand on the shadowhunter’s broad shoulder, his touch light as a feather. “When you’re as old as I am, sometimes you get bored.” He knit his brow, cocking his head to the side. His golden brown eyes were sincere, begging for forgiveness. “I should have realized how much it was bothering you.”

Alec’s muscles softened with the gentle tone of Magnus’ voice. His anger drained at the sentiment of the apology. People had never been gentle with Alec Lightwood. He was the older brother, the one who kept everyone else in line. When someone else messed up, he was the one who took the blame. Normally stubborn to a fault, Alec felt himself backing down- Magnus had that effect on him. 

Deep, calming breaths filled his senses with the signature sandalwood and spice aroma that radiated from the warlock, and Alec almost forgot why he had come here in the first place. His eyes drifted shut as he focused on the warm, soft hand that was now cupping the base of his neck. He didn’t know when it happened, but they were now only inches apart.

“Well..” His hazel eyes fluttered open. “If you’re so bored… maybe we should go for that drink sometime.”

**Author's Note:**

> Call me, maybe? - Carly Rae Jepsen  
> Girlfriend - Avril Lavigne  
> Blank Space - Taylor Swift  
> Sexyback - Justin Timberlake  
> Buttons - Pussycat Dolls


End file.
